Treats and Veg

I am pretty much ok with what you can and cannot feed chickens and have looked at the treats list many times.

My question is however to do with vegetable scraps (uncooked), carrot peelings, cabbage stalks, cauliflower middles, sprout peelings and any half scraggy looking leaves etc etc that do not get cooked with the Sunday roast.

As long as they are eating their main food is there any reason why I can't give them the veg REGULARLY as in three times a week or so which is what I have been doing for the last 6 months+ with no visible side effects?

My logic is that they must be getting minerals and vitamins out of it.

Mine get veg at least that often and when they are allowed out, they stuff themselves on grass and other plants (usually my prize ones ). No ill effects so far and my hens live happy healthy lives for many years.

If they get pellets first thing, they will eat plenty of them and the veg can be a treat later. The only time to think about restricting it is when worming, if you are mixing the wormer into their main feed and assuming they eat a certain amount each day to get the correct dose.

As mum says, technically anything from a kitchen is illegal. There is a good reason behind this. It is to avoid people feeding meat and other unsuitable foods that might contribute to a cross contamination of eggs or disease passing to birds. Just be aware of the law and use your common sense

I gave my birds the veg peelings and regularly gave them a quarter of a cabbage hung up to keep them happy. They loved courgettes and kale. They adored sweetcorn, and chucking in a whole cob was better than the telly Mine free ranged much of the time and had access to my lawn which they kept closely nibbled, de-mossed and fertilised

Ours are partial to corn on the cob, hole drilled and string threaded and dangling , sprouts on the stalk suspended horizontally. Cucumbers have found their way into the enclosure from the greenhouse ( cleaver things, cucumbers ) luckily the hens have not paid a return visit!!